stay tuned …

Two days and 10 rounds into the MLB draft, four Mississippians have been picked. Mississippi State’s Brent Rooker went 35th overall – as predicted in one mock draft – to Minnesota on Day 1. On Day 2, Southern Miss’ Taylor Braley (sixth round, Miami), Golden Eagles teammate Kirk McCarty (seventh round, Cleveland) and Itawamba Community College’s Tyreque Reed (eighth round, Texas) got the call. Please note, the draft is not over. But here in the Short Attention Span Era, Day 3 (rounds 11-40) tends to get overlooked. It shouldn’t be that way. The late rounds are not irrelevant. GMs aren’t drawing names out of a hat. Good major league players have come from the depths of the draft. Prime example: Jarrod Dyson, a 50th-round pick out of Southwest Mississippi CC who has been in the majors for eight years and has a World Series ring. Tony Sipp, a reliever for Houston and a former Mississippi Gulf Coast CC star, was a 45th-rounder. Tyler Moore, currently with Miami, was picked in the 16th round out of MSU. ICC alum and erstwhile big leaguer Tim Dillard, now in Triple-A with Milwaukee, was a 34th-round pick. Picayune’s T.J. House, now in the Toronto system, made the majors out of the 16th round, and Gulf Coast CC alum Joey Butler, playing at Triple-A for Washington, got to The Show as a 15th-rounder. Some Mississippians will be drafted on Day 3. If they sign, they’ll get a uniform and a chance – just like the guys from Days 1 and 2.